This time out, I was going it alone and drove up to the start-point by myself---it would be a smaller hike and I had it mapped out in such a way that I could drive to a small section, complete it, then drive on to the next longer section. I would then be left with about a three and a half kilometer trek back to my car.
I started off by tackling a 3K section just northwest of Berlett's Corners. I parked my car by the end point and then had a fairly short highway jaunt to the beginning of the trail.
Once again, as soon as I entered the woods, I was swarmed by mosquitoes. Fortunately I came well-prepared and was already wearing my bug jacket. It was just a short section but near to the end of it I lost the trail. I was following the blazes and then, suddenly, not a blaze to be found. I back-tracked to the last blaze I'd seen and tried all over again but still no blaze. At that point, I had a general idea of what direction I needed to head in and eventually made my way back to the marked trail. No sweat but it didn't do a lot for my mindset!
After this, a lengthy highway walk and I then found myself with the final section of woods I'd planned on hiking.
I then entered Musselman Woods. This is a parcel of land owned by the Musselman and Schneider families and its trails are wide and fairly well-marked. It was quite hilly but still a pleasurable hike. It was here, though, that I ran into some problems.
As is my usual predicament, I found myself having a hard time marrying the written directions in the guide, the map which comes with them, and what I was actually able to see with my own two eyes.
As an example, at one point the guide says you will climb a steep hill, at the top of the hill there will be a bench, with a panoramic view of a lake. Well, I clearly had just gone up a hill, I had popped out of the forest, there was a bench with a panoramic view---but no lake. Had the lake dried up?? Following the map, it looked as though I needed to go right, around the edge of a field (the guide mentioned this) and so I did. And promptly found another bench. And then another. There were benches all over the place! There were also many entrances back into the forest, so I took a couple of them, looking for blazes. None to be found. So back to the original bench. Here I managed to find a tiny little directional blaze, pinned to a post, indicating a left turn. So I took it. Found more blazes but seemed to be headed back in the direction from whence I'd come.
At this point, I was, in a way, lost. I did have a trail to follow, just wasn't sure it was taking me where I wanted to go. If all else failed though, it would get me out of the woods.
A lot of twisting and turning later and I found myself out of the woods and at the base of a fairly steep, grassy hill. I powered up it and, lo and behold, there was the bench with the panoramic view of the lake! Huge sigh of relief and vindication that I was actually on the right path. The view from the bench was amazing and it was kind of a cathartic moment, to be honest.
From there, the rest of the forest trip was uneventful and I soon found myself back on the roadway, headed to my car. It was a long walk and my feet were burning but my legs were good so we got 'er done. Never so glad to see my car, though...
And now, as is customary, a walking-the-walk photo dump!
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| I've just parked at the end of the first section I wanted to hike and now for some roadwork to get me... |
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| ...down to Berlett's Corners, where they have a.... |
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| ...small cemetery. |
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| Another little bit of highway walking took me to where I entered the forest. You can just see the Avon Trail sign from the road. |
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| I always like the look of a wheatfield up against the forest. Where those trees start was my entrance back into the woods, although it took me awhile to figure that out. |
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| Because I took a pic, I musta known where I was goin'! |
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| Back to my car for a bite to eat and then drive to the next section. Normally I would have hiked there, but I already did this part last week. |
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| Walking to the next set of woods. |
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| The entrance to Musselman Woods, Ropes and barriers so we don't block the laneway. |
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| Nice little sign! |
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| Wide and easily walkable. Hilly, too! |
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| My favourite part of the day! After wandering around, lost, I found the hill with the bench and the view! |
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| After a quick hike through the rest of the forest, I reach the endpoint. This is the 91.6 K point of the Avon Trail. Only about 21K to go! |
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